The Vietnam Center and Archive is proud to present the second speaker in our 2011 Guest Lecture Series, Mrs. Kim Phuc.  In 1972 Kim was photographed running down a road naked and on fire after a napalm strike on her village.  That Pulitzer Prize winning photo by AP photographer Nick Ut not only greatly influenced the American public’s opinion of the war, it became the North Vietnamese symbol of the war in much of their propaganda.  Kim became known as “the girl in the photo.”  Now Kim runs a non-profit organization dedicated to healing children in war-torn areas around the world.  She is also a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for Peace and travels the world telling her story of recovery, forgiveness and courage.

The lecture will be held on Thursday, April 14th at 7:00pm in the Allen Theatre of the Texas Tech Student Union Building. Admission is free and open to the public.  The lecture will be followed by an invitation-only reception with Mrs. Phuc for the Friends of the Vietnam Center in the Formby Room of the Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library.

The mission of the Vietnam Center and Archive Guest Lecture Series is to enrich the intellectual and cultural life of students, faculty, and the community at large by bringing distinguished individuals to campus for presentations on specific aspects of the Vietnam War, its lasting impact on American politics, society and culture, and on contemporary issues in Southeast Asia.

This lecture series is funded in part by a generous grant from the Helen Jones Foundation.  For more information on the 2011 VNCA Guest Lecture Series see http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/GLS.